The Eldest Halliwell
by Katriona
Summary: What if Phoebe had been the one to die? What if Paige had been older instead of younger? This is how I think Season Four should have played out. *Please R&R*
1. Default Chapter

"Paige? Hey, Paige?"  
  
"Yeah?" 35-year-old Paige Matthews looked up to see her boss, Mr. Cowan, calling her.  
  
"You got those case files I asked for?" he asked, his eyes sweeping her meticulously ordered desk.  
  
"Sure." she replied, handing him the folder he was looking for. "Sorry, I guess I just got a bit... distracted..." she added.  
  
He picked up the open newspaper on her desk. "Distracted by the obituaries?"  
  
"Yeah. I'll be back later, I've got a funeral I have to go to." Without giving him time to react, she pushed past himand hurried out of the office.  
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"Piper?"  
  
Piper looked up hopefully, wiping the tears from her face. "Pheobe?"  
  
No. Piper's older sister, Prue, knealt down beside her. "Honey, it's four A.M., what are you doing up here?" Prue's voice was hoarse, and her eyes were red from crying.  
  
"Why isn't this working?" Piper demanded, angrily slammnig the Book of Shadows shut. "We cheat death on a daily freaking basis. Why can't we bring her back?"  
  
Prue hugged her sister tightly. "I don't know. I don't know why this happened, or why we can't fix it. But I do know that we will get through this. We'll be okay, I promise. Hey, come on, let's get some sleep."  
  
Piper nodded, and the girls left the attic, not noticing the strange breeze that filled the room and blew out all but three candles. 


	2. 

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A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Writer's block isn't fun.  
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"What am I doing here?" Paige asked herself. She hadn't even known this woman, Phoebe Halliwell, but she'd found herself drawn to her funeral.  
  
It was the end of the service, and nervously Paige stepped up to Phoebe's sisters. "I'm sorry." she said simply, and after shaking their hands sympathetically, she turned to go. Her hand accidentaly brushed a vase near the casket, and for a second everything went black. She saw a scene unfold in which she was standing with Phoebe's sisters in front of a large, leather-bound book. The scene faded, and Paige was again standing in front of the sisters. She turned and ran out of the funeral home. Shocked, Prue and Phoebe watched her go, then turned toward each other.  
  
"Did you see that?" Piper asked.  
  
Prue nodded. "She looked just like Phoebe did when she had a premonition."  
  
"She just seemed so... surprised." Piper mused. "Like she didn't know she could do that. Think she's an Innocent we're supposed to protect?"  
  
"Maybe, but even if she is, what are we supposed to do?" The Power of Three is gone, we're just as vulnerable as she is now, possibly more." Prue said in a sad, defeated tone that was completely unlike her.  
  
"Still, maybe we should have Leo check in with the Elders, make sure she's safe." Piper pressed. She knew nothing was more important to her older sister than saving innocents, and she had hoped it would be the one thing Phoebe's death wouldn't change.  
  
"Fine," Prue conceded, "but only to make sure she's OK." 


	3. 

On the way home from the funeral, Prue and Piper took turns describing to Leo and Victor what had happened. When they got back to the manor, Leo orbed up to the Elders, and Prue, Piper, and Victor milled around amoung the mourners, looking for the strange young woman. Piper didn't see the innocent anywhere. She did, however, run into someone else.  
  
"Cole!" she exclaimed, surprised. "Uh.. hi."  
  
"Hey, Piper. I'd ask how you were, but under the circumstances..." he began, his expression pained. "Well, anyway, is there something going on? Because I saw you with that woman at the funeral, and then when you got here, Leo orbed out... if there's anything I can do to help, please-"  
  
"What the hell are you doing here?" Prue cut in icily.  
  
"Cole was just offering to help us with the innocent." Piper told her.  
  
"Come on, Prue, don't tell me you still don't trust me. I loved Phoebe, you know I did." he said imploringly.  
  
"Phoebe's gone." Prue snapped. "I repeat: What are you doing here?"  
  
"I can't believe that after all I've done to prove myself to you, you still don't-" Cole began angrily, but he was cut off again, this time by Piper.  
  
"Hey!" She stepped forward and positioned herself directly between Prue and Cole. "Look, all three of us are going to go up to the attic and wait for Leo. The two of you are going to go ahead while I go find Daddy. On the way there, Prue. explain about the woman." Prue and Cole glared at each other, and simultaniously opened their mouths to protest. "Just go." Piper said firmly, rolling her eyes. "And be nice!" 


	4. 

"Where the hell is Piper?" Prue asked impatiently. She and Cole had been sitting silently at opposite ends of the attic.   
  
"You know, this isn't exactly fun for me, either." he remarked.  
  
"Fun?" Prue asked. "Damnit, Cole, my sister's funeral is going on downstairs!"  
  
"Don't you think I know that?" Cole snapped. "I did love her, Prue, whether you want to believe me or not, and I do miss her, just like you do."  
  
Angrily Prue crossed the room. "You got what you wanted, Cole. The Power of Three is nonexistant."  
  
"I.. didn't.. want.. that." Cole said forcefully. He took a step forward, he and Prue were inches away from each other now.  
  
"Damnit, why can't you just leave us alone?" Prue asked. She couldn't hold back any longer. Against her will she started to cry. Too exhausted to fight, she let him pull her toward him. Gently, he stroked her hair, and she buried her face in his shirt.  
  
"Do you trust me now?" he asked.  
  
She lifted her head to look at him. "I can't." she whispered, her voice breaking. She looked at him, studying his expression. Was it her imagination, or was that real concern on his face? Concern for her?  
  
No. She wouldn't let herself believe it. This was, after all, the demon who'd tried to kill her and her sisters. For all she knew, he could be trying to get to her the same way he'd gotten to Phoebe.  
  
She pulled away from him, just as they heard footsteps on the stairs. Prue quickly wiped her eyes. She had of course been crying all day, she didn't really think Piper would notice if her eyes were a bit redder than they had been earlier, or if the tear stains on her cheeks were a bit fresher. Prue and Cole each stepped back to their seperate corners of the room, just as Piper came in with Victor, Darryl, and Leo. 


	5. 

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A/N: Sorry the last chapter was so short. I was going to add more to it, but I needed to put something up, so I'll have to make the rest of it a seperate chapter. Please review, and check out my other Charmed fics.  
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"Hey, what's going on?" Piper asked casually.  
  
Prue and Cole exchanged glances, then stepped even further away from each other.  
  
"Nothing. Just waiting for you." Prue replied.  
  
Victor walked over to Prue protectively, eyeing Cole. Cole stared back at him coolly. Prue leaned against her father, peering distrustfully at Cole. Piper and Darryl, in an effort to reduce the tension, started talking about the woman at Phoebe's funeral.  
  
"So, let me just make sure I've got this straight," Darryl started, "A strange woman shows up, touches a vase, has a premonition, and runs off?"  
  
"Yeah, pretty much." Piper said.  
  
"That doesn't make sense. Why would she run off?" Darryl asked.  
  
"I don't know," Piper sighed, "That's why we have to find her. When she had the premonition, something seemed.. off. Like she didn't know she was a witch, almost."  
  
"Maybe she didn't." Victor suggested.  
  
"It's possible." Prue chimed in. "I mean, we didn't know, until Phoebe found the book. Hell, even after that, we didn't believe her." She looked down, staring at the floor. It hurt her to remember how caustically she'd brushed Phoebe off those first few weeks. Victor hugged her, trying to comfort her.  
  
"So how do we find her?" Cole asked.  
  
Just then, the Book of Shadows started flipping on its own. It stopped at the spell to summon the dead. Prue immedeately thought of her sister. "Maybe Phoebe knew her? I mean, they could've met in class or something."  
  
"But we knew most of Phoebe's college friends." Piper countered. "Didn't we?"  
  
"One way to find out." Prue said, moving toward the book. Prue didn't especially want to find this woman, but she'd take any excuse she could get to see her sister again. She pulled Piper to the book, and they said the spell together. There was a flash of light. They looked up, expecting to see their little sister...  
  
...and were greatly disappointed when Grams appeared instead.  
  
"Grams, where's Phoebe?" Piper demanded.  
  
"She's allright. She's with your mother." Grams answered. "I know what you're going to ask. The answer is, you can't see her because you aren't ready."  
  
"Of course we aren't ready." Prue snapped. "How the hell were we supposed to be ready for something like this?"  
  
"I know, darling, I know," Grams soothed. Prue just glared at her, fighting back tears. "You'll be allowed to see her soon enough, I promise. In the meantime, there must be a reason for you to summon me."  
  
Piper told her what had happened at the funeral, with help from Darryl, Victor, and Cole, who had all heard this at least twice. Prue stayed silent, focusing on not letting herself break down.  
  
Grams listened quietly while the others talked. Once they'd finished, she looked upward. "Patty!" she called. "Patty, we've got to tell them."  
  
"Tell us what?" Piper asked. "Grams, tell us what?"  
  
"We know who the woman you saw is." came Patty's voice. She appeared next to Grams.  
  
"Mom," Prue breathed. "Mom, who is she?"  
  
Patty looked at her mother. Grams nodded, and Patty took a breath. "She's your older sister." 


	6. 

Prue and Piper looked at each other, and then at their mother in total shock and disbelief. It was a full minute before anyone spoke.  
  
"Our sister?" Prue repeated increduously. "But... how?"  
  
Patty glanced at Grams, who nodded reassuringly. Patty turned back to her girls, took a deep breath, and began.  
  
"I... had a bit of a wild streak when I was a teenager. Not unlike the one you went through, Prue, except that I got pregnant. Sam and I... Well, I was barely 19, and I was a witch, and he was a Whitelighter, and we both knew that we couldn't..." Patty bit her lip, searching for the right words. Grams put a hand on her should comfortingly and continued for her daughter.  
  
"Witches and whitelighter were absolutely forbidden to be together, and Patty was so young at the time. We all knew it was the best thing for her and for the baby if Patty gave her up. You girls must understand, it nearly killed her to do it, but she had to."  
  
"Why didn't you tell us?" Prue demanded.  
  
Patty shrugged helplessly, tears forming behind her eyes and threatening to spill over. "I couldn't. You three were so little, I knew you wouldn't have understood just yet. I planned to tell you when you got older, but..."  
  
"You never got a chance." Piper finished sadly. Patty nodded.  
  
"So Dad was right." Prue mused. "That... thing, between you and Sam. It started before the divorce, hell, it was before the marraige. But if you knew you loved Sam, why'd you marry Daddy?"  
  
"I loved your father." Patty said. "After Paige was born, Sam and I didn't see each other much, if at all. It hurt too much, being around each other. He couldn't ask for a different assignment, that would require telling the Elders why, but he didn't check on me nearly as much as he was supposed to. Eventually, the Elders noticed, and Sam had to start coming around more, but that wasn't until after the divorce." She looked at Victor, who'd been silent through all of this. "I know you probably don't believe me,"  
  
"I do." he said, surprising everyone, including himself. "I do believe you."  
  
"Thank you," Patty said, a bit flustered.  
  
"Does she know?" Piper asked suddenly.  
  
"That she's a witch? No." Grams replied. "She does know, or at least she's pretty sure you're her biological sisters. That's why she came to the funeral today."  
  
"So how do we find her?" Prue asked, not sure if she even really wanted to.  
  
"Oh, I think she'll find you." Grams said with a smile.  
  
Prue and Piper exchange glances, but before they could ask Grams what she meant, they heard a noise coming from downstairs.  
  
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A/N: I know, short chapter. I'll get around to writing more... eventually. If you really want to see another chapter soon, bug me about it. Review, e-mail, IM, whatever. Come on, people, I need motivation. 


	7. 

Prue and Piper ran downstairs, with Cole, Victor, and Darryl close behind.  
  
"Damnit," Prue muttered, "That better not be a demon down there, not now."  
  
But it wasn't. It was the strange woman, standing in the foyer awkwardly. "I'm sorry, your door was open, and I..." Her voice trailed off as she realized she had no idea what she was doing there. "I'd better go."  
  
"No." Piper said, pulling her into the living room. "Stay, please. You... well, this is going to be hard to understand, but trust me, you belong here."  
  
"Ok, well, let's start with names." Prue suggested, leaning against the doorway.  
  
"Right." Piper agreed. "I'm Piper, and that's Prue."  
  
"I'm Paige." the woman said nervously.  
  
"So, what brings you here?" Prue asked. Of course, she knew full well what, but she wanted to hear how much Paige knew.  
  
"This is going to sound insane." Paige began.  
  
"Believe me, very few things sound insane to us." Piper said.  
  
"Ok," Paige sighed. "I'm here because... I think I'm your sister." She let out a deep breath, then gave them a feeble half-smile. "See? I told you it would sound crazy."  
  
Piper shook her head. "It's not. Actually, we were just going to go looking for you. See, my mom - well, our mom - just told us about you."  
  
Paige stared at her a minute. "Wait, just now? I thought Patty was dead."  
  
"Yeah," Prue said, "She is."  
  
Paige raised an eyebrow. "Come again?"  
  
"Why don't you come find out for yourself?" Piper suggested, already pulling Paige back out into the foyer. When they got back to the attic, it was empty.  
  
"Mom?" Prue called. "Grams?" She walked around the room a bit, as if looking for them.  
  
Paige looked at her like she was crazy, but didn't have time to comment. A warlocked blinked in, right in front of her.  
  
Paige gasped, and Piper froze them both.  
  
Now it was Prue's turn to gasp. "How is she frozen?" Prue asked. "She's not supposed to be frozen."  
  
"Yeah, I know that." Piper replied through gritted teeth.  
  
"Maybe she's not a witch?" Prue questioned.  
  
"How can she not be?" Piper countered. "She's Mom's daughter, and her father's a whitelighter. She's got to have powers."  
  
Prue started to say something, but stopped when the book started flipping pages on its own. They both went over to it, looking at each other then back at the book as it started slowing down. When it stopped, it was on the first spell they'd ever cast.  
  
"The spell that called our powers." Prue murmured. "It makes sense. We couldn't use our powers until we cast that spell. Maybe she can't use hers, either."  
  
"Should I unfreeze her?" Piper asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Prue nodded. Piper waved her hands in front of Paige, and the latter woman unfroze, took one look at the warlock, and nearly fainted.  
  
"How.. What is he? Why isn't he moving? How did you two get there? What's happening?"  
  
"It's okay, Paige, it's okay," Prue said soothingly, though she knew her assurances were probably meaningless to this woman, the sister she'd known for all of five minutes.  
  
"Paige, come here. We need you to read this with us." Piper said as the warlock started to unfreeze. "Not now, I don't have time for you." she told him, then put her hands up and froze him again.  
  
"How the hell did you do that?" Paige cried.  
  
"It'll all make sense later, but right now, you just have to trust us." Prue said, eyeing the warlock. She knew her sister's freeze would only last so long, and she didn't want to be completely defenseless when he finally broke through it. "Paige, please."  
  
Taking a deep breath, Paige ventured close enough to Prue and Piper that she was able to read the text. "What is this, some kind of spell?" she asked.  
  
Prue nodded as the warlock started moving again. Quickly, Piper froze him a third time, trying to buy some time.  
  
Prue and Piper started reading the spell. Unconciously, Paige joined in. When they finished with "...give us the power," a bright light appeared above them.  
  
"What is that?" Paige asked in a hushed voiice.  
  
Prue and Piper glanced at each other, before replying in perfect unison. "The Power of Three."  
  
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A/N: Please, review. I know it's a long time between updates, but I'm still not sure exactly where I'm going with this one yet, which is why I need feedback. It'll only take a few minutes to review, and it'll help me out a lot. Let me know what you think of the story so far, what you want to see happen, what you think of individual chapters, etc. What are you still reading this for? Go review! 


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